This Day in History

On this day in history:

November 19, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminds a war-weary public why the Union has to fight -- and win -- the Civil War.

November 19, 1969: Soccer legend Pelé scores his 1,000th goal and dedicates it to the poor children of Brazil.

November 19, 1977: Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

November 19, 1998: U.S. House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.

November 19, 2009: In-N-Out Burger opens their first two burger joints along the Wasatch Front.  Each of these restaurants are about twenty minutes from my house, albeit in different directions.  There will be another one just a few minutes from my house, and it's almost finished.  I'm a little excited, but not enough to go wait in a huge line today.  Maybe tomorrow.

Some people out there (you know who you are, go hide your head in shame) aren't fans of In-N-Out, but I think they're pretty dang good... and fast... and really inexpensive.  The first In-N-Out burger I ever had was in Las Vegas, on the way home from a Disneyland trip with my wife about a year and a half ago.  That was before I ever knew about their (not-so) Secret Menu (here and here), so I only got a regular hamburger and fries.  Now that I know about the other stuff, I prefer their burgers animal style.  Sometimes a single, sometimes a double-double.  Someday if I'm feeling especially stupid, I might try a 3x3, but I will never, ever try this or this.

If I were to rank my choice of burger joints, I think I would put them in this order: Hires Big H, JCW's, Five Guys, In-N-Out.  However, this order can change, depending on my burger mood of the day.

Your history lesson is over.  You may return to your regular Thursday activities.

Confessions

Sometimes a little bit of confession can be therapeutic, and  there are a few things I need to get off my chest.  So here we go:

I slurp my popsicles.

I write myself reminders on little quarter-sheets of paper and bring them home, where they end up in random places to remind myself of what I need to do.  Sometimes I forget about the random pieces of paper, and then I find them months later, after I haven't done what I was supposed to remember to do.  I used to have a planner or a notebook when I was in school, but now I do this.  I'm not convinced that it's a better system, but it's what I do.

I have received hand-me-downs (and hand-me-ups) from every member of my wife's family, including her mom and sister.  I may or may not wear some (or a lot) of those clothes on a regular basis... Not so much the ones from her mom and sister, though.

I own a fat suit.  My mom made it for me when I was in high school so that I could play the part of a fat woman in some videos we made for assemblies.  I've used this same fat suit to play Santa Claus before.  Yep.  I'm that cool.

I enjoy making spreadsheets for every major financial decision.  I compare stores, brands, features, and prices.  I get this from my dad.  It's kind of a compulsion.

I may or may not own a pocket protector.  Okay, I do.  It was given to me as a gag gift while I was in the MTC.  I have never used it, though, but I keep it around for emergency costume situations.

If I have taken off my socks, I don't like to put that same pair back on, regardless of how long I wore them before taking them off.  Even if it was only a minute.  Also, I may or may not have a pack of brand new socks in my drawer that I have never worn.  I may or may not be saving them for some unforeseen occasion.

Sometimes I have a hard time keeping secrets.  This is especially true if I have bought my wife what I think is a good gift.  Christmas is really hard for me for this reason.  She's nice, though, and doesn't try to get it out of me and ruin the surprise.

Speaking of that, I just bought my wife a really, REALLY good Christmas gift yesterday.  I'm going crazy trying to keep it a secret.

I rarely carry cash, and so I charge everything I pay for (and then pay it off each month).  However, I usually feel embarrassed if I am charging anything under $3... so I have actually bought things I didn't really want in order to make the total go higher than $3 or $4 so that I'm more in my comfort zone of credit card use.

I may or may not have turned on my sprinklers while my neighbors were crossing through my yard.  I may or may not have laughed while they tried to figure out a way around it.  Why they don't just use the sidewalk, I will never know.  (I may or may not be the grumpy old man on my street.)

There.  I feel better.

Baptism

My wife and I went to a baptism yesterday.  It was the baptism of the 8-year old son of one of our dear friends, and it was great.  It really was a very nice service, and we were happy to have been able to attend.  While we were there, I noticed something that really made my chuckle, and rather than just keeping it to myself, I'm sharing it with you, the Internet.

The program agenda thingie that they hand out so that everyone knows what's going to happen and when had this on the cover:

Sorry about the awesome red "sample" written across the guy's chest.  I didn't want to just scan and post the actual program because that would be copyright infringement, so I took this from the publisher's Web site. . . also I'm downstairs and the scanner is all the way upstairs.

Okay, like I said, that picture was on the cover of the program.  I thought it looked nice.  Then I looked at it harder and I thought to myself, "I wonder where this church building is that has windows and a plant right behind their baptismal font.  Probably one of those rich stakes in Draper or California.  Maybe they have their own specially-designed building."  (Speaking of rich stakes, have you seen the stake center next to the Newport Beach California Temple?  Wow!  That cost a few bucks!)

Anyway, I looked at that picture for a few minutes, then I realized that the guy is only up to his knees in water, and when I baptized my nephew last month, I remember the water was up to my waist.  Then it hit me... this is a picture of a guy and a kid in a BATHTUB!  Granted, it's a very great and spacious bathtub (one that the whole family might be able to enjoy), but it's a bathtub still the same.  I really got a chuckle out of it, because. . . I guess if your stake center is all booked up and you really need to do some baptizin' you could find a really big bathtub and take care of it there.  Maybe turn on the whirlpool jets for an extra memorable occasion.

P.S.  This program cover also comes in "girl."

Odometer

So I hit this milestone in my car the other day:

Yep.  77,777 miles in my little car.  Not all of those miles are mine.  I bought the car from my dad, and I think about 24,000 are his.  But still... I was pretty excited to have all 7s on my odometer.  I was also excited when it showed 70,000 miles earlier this year.  I get excited about stuff like that.  I'm very easily entertained.

Oh, and I may or may not have pulled over in my other car on the way home from Mount Rushmore last month to take this picture:

I might have a problem.

Election Day

It's municipal election day in my town. There are three people running for mayor, and about a dozen people running for a couple of spots on the city council.

It's been said that the small, local elections make more of a difference in your daily life than the big Presidential ones. I can see how that could be true. The mayor and city council have direct control over how things work in my town, and they are much more accessible than the yahoos in D.C. If I have a complaint, I can go to the mayor's office and talk to him face to face. I can write a letter to a councilperson and get a reply from them, not from some lackey who sends a form letter and signs the senator's name. I can even go to church on Sunday and talk to one particular councilman directly. They are that accessible.

That's why it's a shame that more people don't turn up for local elections. It was great that I didn't have to wait in a long line to get my ballot this morning, but there really should have been a greater turnout. Maybe more people will come during the day. Let's hope so.

I've noticed that voting sites for municipal elections are often located in places other than your usual general election voting site. I guess they do this because fewer people turn out to municpal elections, and it's easier (and cheaper) to have one or two voting sites staffed by a handful of people, instead of the many normal voting sites staffed by many, many people. The changes can get confusing to people, I'm sure.

Speaking of people that get confused about location changes, there was this one guy who added a bit of humor to my voting this morning. I got to our city rec center and went to the appropriate table. As I was presenting my ID, an old man walked into the room, and started yelling, "How do you expect us to vote when we can't find you? I went over to the school this morning where I usually go and they told me to come over here! I tells ya, it's getting to be a pain just to find where to vote!" We all just looked at him, and then a poll worker showed him which table he needed to go to.

So then I voted, and it took me all of about a minute to check the boxes I wanted to.

As I was leaving, that same old guy was apparently also finished, and he made it to the door before I did. When he got there he stopped, turned around and said, "How do you expect us to vote when we can't find you? I went over to the school this morning where I usually go and they told me. . ."

I just hurried out of the rec center, chuckling to myself and thinking, "This is a re-run. I've seen this show before."

God Bless America.

So long, Satrun.

You were the first car I ever bought, right when I was fresh home from my mission. You were just a year and a half old, with about 14,000 miles on you. Your saleswoman's name was Merelyn, and you were our first atypical colored car.

You took me to school each day, first at Weber State and later at BYU. You took me to work at Teltrust, then Macey's, then Kennecott, and then to my current job.

You took us on our first road trip as husband and wife. You also took us to Lake Powell, to St. George, to Park City, to Disneyland, to Steamboat Springs and Denver, and many times you took us camping.

You were our first major purchase paid in full, and we were so happy when we paid off your loan.

Although you helped us get a couple of speeding tickets, you were never involved in an accident in all of your 198,000 miles.

In your last year with us, you nobly sacrificed your tires so that your silver cousin could continue to drive. Now, as you begin your new life with the Kidney Foundation, we take heart knowing that you will help someone continue to live by providing dialysis or a transplant.

You ran a good race and fought the good fight.

So long, dear Satrun. We will remember you always.

1997-2009

Small town life.

Yep. I live in a small town. I saw this going on last fall.

Yes, it is the 21st century, and no, we're not Amish.

I love living in a small town. I like being able to go outside at night and see stars. I like that I drive past farms and horse pastures as I drive home from work. I love that there are a couple of ponds a stone's throw from my house, and I love that they freeze in the winter so I can ice skate on them. I like that my neighborhood is quiet (even if I have a couple of moronic neighbors). I like that deer sometimes wander through my neighborhood. I don't like the skunks that so often get hit on the street, or the occasional smell from the mink farms when the wind is right, but I can live with that.

Even though my town is small, I just found out that it's about double the population of South Dakota's capital, and more than triple that of Vermont's. So... um... wow. I can only imagine the number of horse-drawn carriages in those towns.